Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 440: Pre-event Day at Xinglong Tea House
If Song, the magistrate of Shuntian government office, and Lin, the head of the police department of the criminal department, who had been to Yuexiu Hutong yesterday, revisited the place today, they would find that the Xinglong Teahouse, which Zhang Shou had casually given a good name, was actually a very shabby little tea stall, which had disappeared because the tea seller moved to another location. However, the original place was no longer bleak with the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves, but was crowded with people.
It wasn't the place where the tea stall was located that suddenly became lively, but a building near Yuexiu Hutong that was still covered with a curtain when Song Tui Guan and his companions arrived yesterday and had been under construction for days, suddenly revealed its true face today.
The three-story teahouse has an octagonal double eave, a pointed roof, red painted doors and windows, and shiny black tiles. At first glance, it is not simple or shabby like a folk teahouse, but rather shows the luxury of a wealthy family. There are even copper wind chimes embedded on the eaves, and the sound of the bells is clear when the breeze blows.
The heads of various guilds and chefs who had rushed over today were all amazed when they saw the heavy curtains being removed from below.
Not only these people, but also the people nearby who heard the news and came to watch the fun, all opened their mouths wide. This place was fenced off with wooden pillars and various barriers at the beginning of the year. At that time, some people with dirty hands and feet sneaked in to see if there was any money to be made, but in the end they could only get in but not get out. In the end, it became a taboo place in the eyes of some people.
The news spread quickly, and no one knew where it came from, saying that this was the property of Weinan Earl Zhang Kang, and that he planned to renovate the original three-story teahouse here to house his mistress. Since there were rumors that a large piece of land nearby belonged to a wealthy family, ordinary people were even more afraid to spy on what was going on inside. Who would have thought that it would be like this after it was completed?
Only Lu Sanlang knew that the reason why the Imperial Chef Selection Competition was held here was not only because the land belonged to the emperor, but also because there was a royal teahouse that was almost completed here - yes, the emperor wanted to transform it into a private club that could be open to the public on weekdays, and when he occasionally went out of the city in disguise, he could book the entire third floor and take people to enjoy the scenery of the outer city.
Of course, the emperor's original construction plan was much more than that. It also included connecting several ponds in the nearby Xuannanfang to create a Suzhou-style garden, providing it to several mathematics masters including his teacher Ge Yong as a base for daily activities, and even proposed an amazing organization such as the Jiuzhang Academy, which was opposite to the Jiuzhang Hall.
Anyway, when Lu Sanlang heard Zhang Shou mention the emperor's series of grand plans, he was amazed and deeply admired. But when he heard that the inner treasury had money, but the emperor did not dare to spend it so excessively, so this was a plan made ten years ago, and only now was a teahouse renovated, he felt horrified.
As an emperor, he is still so restricted when spending money. How depressing!
At this moment, facing a large group of leaders who were exclaiming in amazement, Fatty Lu certainly would not show such emotion, but said to everyone calmly: "This is the second home of Lord Weinan. He and I are close friends regardless of age difference, so I persuaded him to take over this teahouse which has not yet been officially opened. If you want to be amazed, you should praise Lord Weinan for his ingenuity."
"But he is not at a loss. The four characters of Xinglong Tea House were written by the emperor himself. With these four characters, the business of his tea house will be prosperous in the future! Mr. Liu, don't you agree?"
Seeing the little fat man asking him with a smile, Liu Zhiyuan couldn't help but laugh. If Zhang Shou hadn't been so open with him, he would have been easily fooled by the little fat man's words without knowing the truth! Moreover, looking at Zhang Kang, the Earl of Weinan, who came to the platform in person, it's hard to say whether he was sent by the emperor or he was really a close friend of the little fat man!
"I'm now unemployed at home, so don't keep mentioning the word 'old man'." Liu Zhiyuan coughed to remind him, and then smiled, "As for the fact that Weinan Earl's newly-built good place was used to host this grand event, it's really rare. No wonder the emperor splashed ink and wrote the word 'Xinglong' with his imperial brush."
Zhang Kang smiled at Liu Zhiyuan, thanking the old man for his comments. After all, the two were not familiar with each other before, but he was really surprised. He didn't guess that it was this old man who came out to support Lu Sanlang. You know, what was his name in the past? Liu the Headless! I believe that this man who makes money with peace has been killed decisively!
"My place hasn't opened yet, so I'll lend it out for this event. When it officially opens, it will naturally attract a constant flow of customers. I'll make a lot of money." Zhang Kang glanced at the richest man in Beijing, Wan Yuanbao, and said with a smile, "But no one can be as generous as the famous Wan Yuanbao in Beijing. He even lent out Twelve Rains from Tingyu Cottage."
"Weinanbo is joking. What kind of Master Wan am I? Besides, with such a big party going on, how can I not come? It's a pity that I don't have any outstanding chefs under my command. In this case, of course I can only ask all the girls to come and add to the fun!"
Even though he was undoubtedly the number one figure among the large group of businessmen and meeting leaders today, and the head of the Hua family, the richest family in Suzhou, when he saw Wan Yuanbao talking to Zhang Kang with a smile on his face, he knew that there was still a gap between him and Wan Yuanbao. It was not the gap in family strength, but the gap in connections between the Suzhou dragon from outside the province and the local snake in the capital.
Therefore, he knew that this was definitely not the time for him to rashly approach and show his intimacy. Sure enough, the next moment, he saw Zhang Kang even punched Wan Yuanbao on the shoulder with a very familiar and informal manner: "You old ghost who is omnipresent, since Twelve Rain is here and there are so many people nearby to watch the fun, put up the curtain on the big stage over there and let them perform."
Zhang Kang gave Wan Yuanbao instructions like a half-master, and then said to the others with a smile: "Please do as you please, today is just a preview anyway, you can go down and prepare the booth, or you can watch the fun here."
"You know, it's very rare for Tingyu Cottage's Twelve Rains to perform Jinling Yan, formerly known as Peach Blossom Fan. In the past, it was very hard to get a ticket for the performance. Even the dignitaries wanted to invite the performers home to perform. After all, even the emperor once brought Princess Yongping to watch it, and he applauded. This was considered a clear path in front of the emperor."
After Zhang Kang finished speaking, he invited Liu Zhiyuan and Lu Sanlang to go upstairs. Hua Siye whispered a few words to the shopkeeper Hua next to him, and when he saw him leave in a hurry, he followed the person in front of him to go upstairs. Sure enough, when he reached the second floor, he saw that the stage surrounded by the curtain downstairs had already started playing stringed instruments and bamboo instruments, and then two women came on stage. He couldn't help but look at them with interest.
But when he thought they would sing, he was stunned. It turned out that it was not the various singing styles he was familiar with, but ... it was plain language with ups and downs! He widened his eyes in disbelief, but he saw that Zhang Kang, Liu Zhiyuan, Lu Sanlang and other business leaders upstairs were only a few who were surprised, and most of them smiled knowingly.
What kind of play is this?
Shopkeeper Hua also had doubts in his heart. However, when he heard the dialogue below, he was just surprised. When he saw the interested expressions of the many onlookers, he realized that this kind of situation must have been in the capital for more than one or two days, otherwise it would not have been so widely recognized. Sure enough, he turned around a little and heard a lot of discussions, some of which were quite insightful.
"Shi Er Yu's recitation of the lines is much better than before. Back then, her voice was so weak and powerless, but now it has a bit of sonorous sound, which fits the atmosphere before the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty. The generals and soldiers are weak and powerless, but the woman is sonorous and resolute, which is really wonderful."
"A merchant girl knows not the sorrow of losing her country, yet she still sings the song of Hou Ting Hua across the river? Tsk, that's just some literati's complaints. If they really feel indignant about the loss of their country, they should raise their arms and fight against it! You can only sit in a restaurant and drink to drown your sorrows, but you still laugh at the singing girl who doesn't know the sorrow of losing her country? Haha, so hypocritical!"
"Brother, you are right. Many people in the court have criticized the play of Twelve Rains, saying that it is not in line with history and is all fabricated. If you ask me, it is nothing but fabrication. Those guys in the Southern Song Dynasty were fighting among themselves in the face of a powerful enemy, and they were no better than the singing girl! By chance, I once went to see the full version with someone, and it was really wonderful. Hey, the last days of the Southern Song Dynasty were portrayed vividly!"
The people who were talking were obviously knowledgeable, so Shopkeeper Hua just stood and listened for a while. As expected, he only heard people talking endlessly about what the so-called "Jinling Yan" was based on, how it developed later, and what roles the twelve rains played in it... So much so that Shopkeeper Hua was distracted and missed a lot of lines behind the curtain.
"Anyway, you can't tell how famous it is just by listening. You have to go in and see it! If I could really go in and taste the cooking skills of future imperial chefs and watch the performances of Twelve Rain during the Imperial Chef Selection Competition, I would rather save money and go to join in the fun!"
Although the people around were very interested in the discussion just now, many of them showed disapproval when they heard that they were willing to save money to watch the show. However, Shopkeeper Hua smelled something unusual.
After all, ordinary people may not have the money to go to the inner venue to enjoy the food and watch the show. Because today's incident happened suddenly, there are few people in the outer city who have money and free time. But after the warm-up day is over and the news spreads, how many people will come to join in the fun after hearing the news? How much money is involved?
Just as Shopkeeper Hua was getting more and more excited, he suddenly heard a shout: "Authentic Yangzhou snacks, the emperor personally appointed the Yangzhou imperial chef... The eldest disciple is in charge of the cooking! Boiled dried shredded pork, braised lion's head, Yangzhou fried rice..."
Before he could finish listening to the shouting that sounded like announcing the names of dishes, Shopkeeper Hua hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd, only to see that a stall had already been set up downstairs of the Xinglong Tea House.
It was called a stall, but it was much better than those vendors in the market who used a cart as a stall, because there were several square tables around it, and the carts were equipped with everything from stoves, firewood to various chopping boards and utensils. A tall chef was skillfully stir-frying food by the stove, and many people gathered around in an instant.
After all, when you can only hear the sound but not see the person, the fragrant food is much more attractive than a beautiful woman acting.
Seeing this scene, Manager Hua's heart skipped a beat, especially when he saw Yu Huishou, the leader of the group, standing smugly with his hands folded behind the chef. He immediately realized that someone had gotten there first.
Therefore, he had no time to care about the strange drama of Twelve Rains in Tingyu Cottage, or what the people in the capital were thinking under the emperor's feet. He only knew that the Suzhou Guild Hall had already fallen behind the Yangzhou Guild Hall, and if it fell behind further, it would be all over.
Although the construction of Cangzhou port has already started to take shape, it has not been finalized yet. If even under such an open system, the people of Suzhou cannot send an imperial chef to the imperial kitchen, how can they face their fellow countrymen?
So, when Zhang Shou brought Xiao Cheng and Xiao Huasheng to the vicinity of Xinglong Tea House, he found that the flow of people had increased more than twenty times compared to when he entertained Song Tuiguan and Lin Lao Hu yesterday. Even when he was still far away, he could hear the huge clamor of hawking over there.
“Yangzhou specialty crystal braised pork!”
"Gusu delicacy, intestine and lung soup, ten coins a bowl, only ten coins, common people's delicacy, noble taste!"
"Shandong Confucius Mansion cuisine allows you to taste the craftsmanship that the saints praised so highly!"
Peanut's eyes almost popped out of his head. He had heard about this so-called imperial chef selection contest from Lao Xianyu a long time ago, and originally thought it was just a formality, and the corresponding person had already been selected. But now that he was there and saw and heard it, he felt that everything overturned his imagination. How could it be so grand and lively?
Thinking that this was another suggestion from Zhang Shou, he couldn't help but glance to the side, but before he could get a reply from Zhang Shou, he kept moving forward and heard an unusually soft song in front of him. Although he had never heard such a singing style before, he was almost mesmerized by it, and he couldn't help but move forward, even passing Zhang Shou unconsciously.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Shou has completely believed his initial judgment.
No wonder Xiao Huasheng accidentally said the word "opera" at the Xiao family before, and then when he mentioned that there was an opera troupe coming, he was also very interested, it turned out that he was a fan of opera. However, in this era, opera actors have always been regarded as a lowly profession. For example, if the Twelve Rains performing on the inner stage were replaced by twelve good ladies, it would probably cause an uproar.
If Xiao Huasheng is really interested in this line of work... he doesn't care, but will Lao Xianyu be so angry that he beats this guy to death?
Zhang Shou was having this ridiculous thought in his mind and didn't notice that he had suddenly become the focus of attention.
Normally when he went out, he didn't like to go to crowded places, and he didn't go shopping very often - and at that time he was often accompanied by Zhu Ying, and the Zhu family's guards surrounded him, so others could only watch from afar. But now, Liu was leading the horse and no one knew where to put it. Besides Xiao Huasheng and Xiao Cheng, there were only Yang Hao and Zheng Dang around him. These half-grown children had no deterrent , so how could they intimidate others?
So, not to mention the young ladies, several men couldn't help but look at each other when they saw his appearance, and then quietly came over. Seeing a group of women greedily looking at this handsome young man, one of the men suddenly shouted: "You runaway slave, the master has been looking for you everywhere for many days, and you still dare to come out and show off in the market, go, capture him and bring him back to ask for a reward from the master!"
Just as he finished speaking, a laugh came from the top of Xinglong Tea House nearby: "Hey, Dr. Zhang is here too?"
